GEORGETOWN, Guyana, CMC – Guyana Friday launched its first-ever digital school, with President Irfaan Ali stating that the country must move from a resource-based economy to a knowledge-based one, and from dependence on extraction to dependence on invention.
Ali said the school is not only a milestone for Guyana but also for regional integration and the dream of a unified Caribbean learning space.
“Today is a significant day for our region. It is a day that many who came before us hoped for, when children from Barbados, St Lucia, St Kitts and Nevis, Montserrat, and Guyana can be in one classroom, in one environment, sharing one story.
“How beautiful is that, when children across our region can be in the same lab, experimenting, fusing our different cultures, telling our different stories, and building truly the one Caribbean region we all want?” he said, noting that for the first time, students across CARICOM states can learn from each other’s cultures
“This is not only about education, this is about dismantling barriers; removing differences,” he said, noting that over the years, generations of Guyanese were subjected to lives of poverty, not because they didn’t want better, but because they lacked opportunity.
Ali said they were denied access to education, and with it, the chance to break the cycle and create a different future.
“Today marks a historic moment. Every Guyanese now has the opportunity, a real chance, to learn, to grow, and to transform their lives.”
He said that the Guyana Digital School must not be seen simply as “an educational project” but a “national development project…because a digital economy requires a digital workforce.
“A digital workforce requires digital skills. Digital skills require digital learning, and digital learning requires digital institutions like the Guyana Digital School”.
The authorities say that more than 30,000 students from across the Caribbean have already registered for the Guyana Digital School, which they have described as a “revolutionary, student-centred online and AI-powered learning platform”.
Ali told the ceremony that a child in rural Guyana “must have the same access to quality learning as a child in Georgetown.
“A student with disabilities must be able to access learning in formats that empower them. A working adult must be able to upskill from wherever they are,” he said, noting that such a situation must also exist for teachers.
President Ali explained that the world is changing faster than ever as nations transition into what is widely regarded as the Fourth Industrial Revolution, driven by artificial intelligence, automation, biotechnology, and digital integration.
Guyana, he said, refuses to be left behind.
“The world has changed and is changing faster than at any time before in human history. If we are to survive, we have to get on board now,” he said, adding that before the end of next year, Guyana will perform its first robotic-assisted surgery, with specialists conducting the procedure in the United States while the patient is in an operating theatre in Guyana, demonstrating the digital future that students must be prepared to navigate.
and then 